We also finished 5th the season before last. We should have finished 4th under Emery as well but he rested players and got beat at home to Crystal Palace then got beat 3-0 at Leicester the next week. We got 4 points in the final 5 games of the season and missed out on top 4 by 1 point to Spurs.
This is the thing with Emery. I can’t even call him a cup manager, as bar his time at PSG, he’s never won a domestic cup competition, but I would trust Emery in European competition as he seems to have them mastered, and places great importance on them, sometimes to the detriment of the league form. He got Arsenal to Europa League final that season in his only full season, although we were battered in the final by Chelsea, however we collapsed in the league, I don’t think you can afford to do that at the top clubs.
I really like the guy and he’s a really good coach. I just don’t know he’s got that something extra that you need that makes a top club really consistent week in week out. He’s became flavour of the month again because of his headline win over Arsenal, and he’s capable of getting big wins, but let’s not forget he had 1 win in 5 in the league before that, including a 4-0 home defeat to Spurs, 4-1 at City, 1-1 at West Ham and 3-3 at home to Brentford. But he’s had great results in the Conference League, which again backs up my point, that he struggles to juggle competitions, which you might get away with at a Villa or a Sevilla, but that’s not what you aim for at a Man Utd for instance.
